Descent Of Intent: Halo & Call of Duty Crossover
by Undead Raptor
Summary: I love Call of Duty and Halo, so I figured they should meet! Why the hell not?
1. Chapter 1: Contact

Author's Note: I don't own Call of Duty or Halo. Now this isn't exactly much to do with CoD but it is modern day and it is a military story so that game seemed to suit it best. I've been fascinated with the idea of the Covenant coming to 21st century Earth and I decided to try and explore that idea in this fanfic. So I hope you like, and PLEASE review it! Keeps me going

Just another normal day in Hawaii. Just like every other day so far this July the sun was out and the volcanic islands once again basked in their paradise. The biggest waves in the Pacific this year were being recorded on the beaches and surfers were taking to the water in huge crowds. But of course like any other place in the world, some people still had work to do. At the Gemini Observatory, Dan Baker was trying to stay awake after spending all night monitoring the sky as blips appeared over and over again. Naturally Dan thought little of it, just another screw-up by the tech boys he thought. But as he got up from his computer screen to get a third cup of coffee, he heard a bleeping sound from his laptop. He stopped and turned slowly, his expression not changing as he checked the computer. An electrical storm was developing over California. Strange. California had been bathed in sunlight constantly for two months; it was in the middle of a huge drought. And for an electrical storm to just appear without warning was very strange. At any rate, Dan sat back down and picked up the phone, which was surrounded by coffee rings on the table. Once Dan's boss picked up the phone he could tell that his boss was tired and he became terrified that he'd woke him up.

"What?" asked his boss grumpily.

"Sir, you might wanna turn on the weather channel. We've got huge electrical storm readings all over California" said the jumpy Dan but his boss just groaned.

"You woke me up for an electrical storm?" he asked, holding back yawns.

"Sir this actually seems pretty big, it's covering the entire of California" Dan warned and his boss sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes.

"Alright Dan, you got my attention. Where's the storm centred?" he asked.

"Um, it formed directly over Los Angeles and its... holy shit" he suddenly said as his eyes widened at the sight of what his computer was showing him.

"Try to watch your language Dan" chuckled his boss but Dan interrupted him.

"Sir, you won't believe what I'm seeing!" shouted Dan as he ran a check on his computer to find out if he really was seeing it.

"Try me" said his boss.

"Sir, this storm is releasing 45 terajoules every five seconds!" shouted Dan, his eyes widening as the system check showed the exact same results. His boss bolted upright in shock.

"Double check!" he ordered.

"I have sir, no change! The news is saying that Cali is being ravaged by a massive storm right now. They're saying that there are fifty lightning bolts on the ground at all times!" said the wide-eyed Dan as he kept checking the data. His boss, whose name was Philip Smith, jumped out of bed with the phone still to his ear.

"Hang on, I'm on my way now!" he shouted and he ran to get dressed.

Once Philip arrived at the observatory twenty minutes later, seven other people were with Dan, all of them talking as they tried to figure out what was happening. Philips walked in and shouted over the commotion to try and calm everyone down.

"Can everyone just shut it and tell me what's happening?" he yelled and everyone looked at him.

"All our satellites are saying the same thing sir, and that storm sure as hell is happening" said July Goddard, who had put on spectacles to study the laptop screen better.

"We have hundreds of weather satellites up there, can someone please tell me why we didn't see the biggest thunderstorm in history until it just appeared half an hour ago?" he called out unnecessarily loud across the room.

"Working on it sir!" said Dan and Philip raised his hands in frustration.

"Alright screw it, I'm calling Jacob. He's in San Jose yes? Let's find out what the hell is going on" he said and he dialled the number of Jacob.

Jacob was sat in the front seat of his parked car when his iPhone rang. He cursed as he fumbled through his coat pockets for it; it was difficult to hear over the sound of the rain lashing down on the car from what seemed to be all directions. The fog was incredibly thick, making it impossible to see further than a few feet away. Jacob finally got his phone and answered.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Jacob, it's Philip. What the hell is going on over there?" came the panicked voice of Philip.

"Nothing's happening over here, by which I mean literally nothing. I had to leave San Jose, I'm somewhere outside LA. I needed to see my daughter, but I can't drive in conditions like this. I've never seen a thunderstorm like it. Why so panicky?" he asked.

"Jacob, no-one has ever seen a thunderstorm like it, it's the biggest in recorded history!" came shouts from Philip just as the sound of a lightning strike sounded not far away.

"What the hell are you talking about Philip? Try calming down and then I'll call you back. The weather can't last this long anyway, too much rain for the Pacific to hold, let alone clouds. Call you back" he said before turning off his phone. Back in Hawaii, Philip cursed several times before announcing that Jacob had decided to be a retard for the day. Back in his car, Jacob was shaking his head at the rain outside. It was pounding so strongly against his car he felt that it might break through the roof. But slowly, the rain began to slow down.

"Finally!" he said to himself and he watched as the fog began to clear. But something was different. In the sky he could make out the outline of a shape dangling in the air, which couldn't possibly be a cloud. As the rain went down into occasional drips from the sky, Jacob lifted his waterproof hood over his head and got out of the car. The wind had died down a little now but Jacob was interested by the shape. The fog made it almost impossible to see but the basic outline could just be made out. As the fog cleared, Jacob realised what it was and his heart stopped for a few seconds before pounding back to life so strongly it felt like it would rip itself out of his chest. There, hovering over the city of Los Angeles was a Covenant Corvette starship. It hovered silently and alone over Downtown Los Angeles, emerging from behind the clouds. Suddenly, a great blue flash of light went off near the Corvette and a massive slipspace portal opened a couple of miles away from the Corvette. In Hawaii, the sensors were screaming as a massive electronic spike appeared where the portal was opening. And out from the portal emerged a second Corvette over the outskirts of Los Angeles. Then a third portal opened and another Corvette emerged from the blinding blue light that bathed the entire city and almost blinded Jacob. The three portals stayed open behind the three ships, before they closed in an instant and the three ships hovered over the city.

Jacob stood rooted to the spot as he stared at the three huge ships that now dominated the space over the city. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, and he could hear emergency sirens all over the city. He ran back to his car and started up the engine. Once it roared to life he sped down the road making a beeline for Los Angeles. The entire way he couldn't take his eyes off the 800 meter long, purple streamlined ships that hovered gracefully. They were hundreds of meters in the air and yet still seemed so huge. Jacob turned on the radio, which was playing a news bulletin.

"Breaking news, as we prepare to go live to Los Angeles. Mixed reports are coming through of a situation taking place in the area. We are going live to our affiliate live in Los Angeles" said the anchorman of the news show and as he spoke, Jacob watched as a small red helicopter buzzed overhead, clearly a news helicopter. In fact, it seemed to be the very helicopter the news channel was using.

"We have live coverage from News Chopper 3. Are you there?"

"Yes I'm here. I'm looking at something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. There are three huge... alien ships hovering over Los Angeles. They just appeared there a few minutes ago and they are huge, I can only predict their size but they must be around 1000 meters long and 400 meters wide. There are people on the streets, thousands of them, and they are gathering underneath the ships taking pictures! I'm getting word that the military is deploying forces into the city" and as the reporter said that, Jacob turned off the radio. He didn't need to hear about what was happening, he had seen it himself and could still see it. Cars were leaving the city in droves as he entered the highway and kept going, still not taking his eyes off the ships. Cars had pulled over in the highway and people had abandoned them, instead taking pictures and just staring at the massive ships that now hovered over Los Angeles. Jacob finally took his eyes off the ships and focused on the road.

"God help us all" he said to himself.

END OF CHAPTER 1


	2. Chapter 2:  Human Toll

The passenger bay of the Blackhawk was tense beyond belief. A squadron of six Blackhawks were flying over the city to reinforce friendly defence against a possible attack from the alien ships, and as they passed over Santa Monica the US Army Rangers on board could clearly see all three of the ships that dwarfed the helicopters that buzzed underneath them. So far there had been no contact from the Covenant ships, no visible movement or anything. The weather had reverted back to what it should have been; a clear summer morning. The aid was humid but much of this heat was coming from the four Repulsor Engines that kept each Corvette hovering over the huge city. Onboard one of the Blackhawks, which was in the centre of the tight triangle formation, sat Private James Ramirez. He had just completed his first six months in Afghanistan and wasn't planning on going back anytime soon. Now as far as he knew he could be fighting an alien invasion. He grimaced and checked his M4A1 assault rifle again to occupy himself as he waited for the helicopter to land. He brushed off some dust on the holographic scope, wondering if it would actually do any good. What if they were going to be fighting an alien enemy that was immortal? Ramirez shuddered at the thought and tried to think about other things. He thought briefly about home back in San Diego, his wife and his two daughters. He wondered what they were doing right now. Sheila was probably gardening, which was her favourite hobby by far. The kids were probably at school. But considering what was happening here in LA, they had probably been let out of school early. The three of them were probably glued to their TV, watching everything.

Ramirez's thoughts were interrupted when his headset suddenly filled with the sound of Overlord, callsign of Command, addressing the pilot of the helicopter. Ramirez listened intently to every word while keeping his eyes on the Corvette that hovered over the skyline.  
><em>"Ugly Two-Zero this is Overlord, relay from Goliath One. I am in contact with Centurion Two, a Marine Recon Platoon in Santa Monica. They need reinforcement while they get as many civvies out of the city as they can, you are to change course and drop at Santa Monica. How copy, over?"<em> finished Overlord.  
><em>"Solid copy Overlord, we are changing course now, out"<em> responded the pilot quickly and Ramirez held onto the sides of his metal seat as the helicopter banked and headed towards the coastal town of Santa Monica, which was only about two minutes away.

Ramirez steadied himself as the Blackhawk banked and he shared a glance with Corporal Dunn, his closest friend. Ramirez usually stayed silent between missions; he wasn't a good people person. And his parents wanted him to be a doctor... he mused as the helicopter sped at full speed over the houses near the ocean. Several clouds of black smoke rose up from places where fires must have been started by looters in the wake of the ship's arrival. Everyone on the helicopter was still staring at the Corvette that hung over the skyline, but Ramirez only made occasional glances at it. It concerned him yes, but he felt that there were more useful things he could be doing than staring at something he couldn't do anything about. He was more interested in studying the city below him, watching great crowds of people heading through the streets, though many crowds were at a standstill and watching either the alien ships or the military that had arrived in the city. Ramirez was watching when he heard the sound of a pair of jet engines nearby. He looked up towards the alien ship and saw a formation of four F-22 Raptor fighter jets streak past towards it just metres over the helicopter. He heard the pilot mutter something.

"_Fucking Raptors man, that was way too close to us"_ he muttered and Ramirez couldn't help but agree. A few more feet lower and the jets would have crashed right into the helicopter. As the fighter jets broke off and flew past the ship, it happened.

As Ramirez watched the fighter jets fly past, four bolts of blue light flew out from the belly of the Corvette over the skyline. Each of these bolts lit up like a Christmas tree, easily noticeable as they approached the ground. One by one, the four shots smacked into the ground of Downtown Los Angeles, each creating an immensely loud bang as they hit. And then from each impact there rose a large cloud of purple fire that grew quickly from the impact zone, tinged with orange and red fire. The fireballs were the size of an entire block, and the bangs from the explosions hit everyone. It was like Krakatau erupting in Los Angeles, that's how loud it was. Instantly after the explosions there was silence on every frequency. Everyone just stopped talking. Then after about five seconds the radios everywhere filled with shouting as people came to terms with what was happening. The Blackhawk sped up as two more F-22 Raptors flew overhead, much lower to the ground than the previous three. Ramirez armed his assault rifle and prepared for battle. He watched as a volley of objects fell from the undersides of all three ships in unison. The objects weren't weapons; they disappeared behind buildings and didn't explode when they hit the ground. Rather, they were drop pods being used to deploy troops.

There was panic on every radio frequency, but Ramirez knew that his life and the life of others would depend on him keeping a cool head. Sergeant Foley, sitting across from Ramirez, was bowing his head down and whispering a prayer. Ramirez wished he could have kept his faith, but after what he saw in Afghanistan he simply couldn't. He was still haunted by the visions of those children, lying dead with blood oozing from the deep slashes on their throats. He shook his head to get rid of the picture before the voice of Sergeant Foley made him snap out of it instead.

"_Everyone get ready, we're roping down in thirty seconds!"_ shouted Foley over the noise of the helicopter blades. Just a few seconds later, the pilot of the helicopter made a transmission to the other pilots in the squadron.

"_Uh, we've got multiple unidentified fast-movers converging on our position, does anyone have a visual?"_ he asked, and a panicked young female pilot yelled into the airwaves in response.

"_I see them, I see them!"_ she screamed out as a squadron of seven small, 6 meter long streamlined purple Banshee fighters swarmed towards the Blackhawk flight like bluebottles to a picnic. One of the alien fighters fired its Projectile Cannon, which launched a green direct-fire bolt of energy that left a long tail as it travelled, like a green comet. The shot smashed into one of the Blackhawks directly to the right of Ramirez's helicopter and it burned through the relatively weak armour with little effort. A large explosion went off in the front of the helicopter's tail and the stricken aircraft went into a spin, before smashing into the ground as the pilot desperately called out a Mayday.

The remaining Blackhawks broke off from the formation except for Ramirez's helicopter, which made a beeline for the target landing zone. It finally arrived as Marines already on the ground popped green smoke to indicate their position. As Sergeant Foley released the rope and slid down it to the ground, Ramirez's head swung around as he saw the Corvette over the skyline unleash another volley of Heavy Plasma Cannons fired down onto the skyline, intent on tearing it apart and purging it in fire. Ramirez watched in horror as one of the shots scored a direct hit with the US Bank Tower. It hit the roof at a perfect 90 degree angle in the centre of the roof and tore through the concrete and masonry with next to no effort. The top half of the building shattered, as the plasma shot burrowed through and melted all it touched. The top half of the building fell open like a cardboard box being opened, before a massive ball of fire grew out. The bottom half of the tower suffered every window being shattered but was relatively unscathed. The top half however, was gone, replaced by a burning crater in the tower where a plume of thick black smoke now rose like the tower had become a volcano, the only bits of the top-half that remained looked like giant, glowing orange embers. Ramirez watched in shock before looking down at the ground twenty feet below, grabbing the rope that dangled off the Blackhawk and swinging down to the ground.

Once Ramirez landed, he rubbed his gloves together to get rid of a small feeling of rope burn before grabbing his assault rifle and following Sergeant Foley, who ran to the end of the street before they all stopped to watch as the Blackhawk they had come on left, flying off towards the skyline no doubt to help evacuate civilians. But there were plenty of civilians to evacuate here, people were swarming through the streets, running away from the area and the Army Ranger squad was finding it hard to get through them. In the end, Ramirez gave up trying this and tried to scope out the area. He climbed up onto the roof of an abandoned car and could see that at least 30 more US soldiers were heading up the street, escorting an M1126 Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle that trundled down the street slowly as civilians made sure to stay out of their way. A third set of explosions could be heard in the distance, no doubt coming from the skyline as the Corvette rained hell on the poor people there. Sergeant Foley shouted over to Ramirez as the Stryker approached.

"_Ramirez! There's an idiot reporter, he's gonna get himself run over! Get him outta here!"_ Foley shouted and Ramirez jumped down from the car and ran towards the reporter, who was talking into a microphone.

"_Hey, I'm really sorry but I need you to leave now for your own safety, we've got an armoured vehicle approaching and you're in the way!"_ Ramirez shouted over the din of the screaming people that were running past.

"_Oh, sorry!"_ apologised the reporter and he gestured for the cameraman to get away. They both got off the road as the Stryker kept moving down the street, crushing a car that was in the way as it did so. Ramirez watched the Stryker before hearing the yell of a soldier nearby.  
>"Take cover!" screamed the soldier and Ramirez looked to the sky. Three bright blue Heavy Plasma Mortars were soaring overhead, slowly beginning to fall to the ground right towards the street. They were like blue comets as they gracefully flew over the rooftops before it became clear that they were descending right onto the street. Screams rang out as people dispersed, trying to escape the wrath of the mortar shots. As the Stryker stopped in the middle of the road and the gunner of the attached M240 machine gun ducked into the body of the IFV, the mortars hit. They landed one by one, the first smashing into the roof of a three storey apartment building. The mortar melted through the roof before exploding inside the third floor. The walls of the third storey exploded outward, sending masonry and bits of concrete flying everywhere and raining down onto the street below as an immense fireball grew out of the third floor, consuming everything within it. The explosion was incredibly loud, and the force of it shook the ground so much that puddles on the road rippled furiously. Then the second mortar hit, this time smashing into the sidewalk. Ramirez could only watch as it impacted, sending three US Marines nearby flying across the street and also tossing a white jeep away like it was a toy. The jeep bounced off the hard asphalt of the road as the sidewalk the mortar hit was churned up and scattered everywhere, looking like what would happen if you put a bomb under a garden, leaving a huge crater where the mortar had struck. Huge pieces of pavement and road, some several feet in length, pelted the crowd, vehicles and the Stryker. A civilian car attempting to drive down the street had its windscreen smashed by a flying piece of debris and the driver tumbled out of the door and lay motionless on the road. As the screaming intensified, the third and final mortar smashed into a clothes store on the other side of the road, ripping through the roof effortlessly before exploding in the ground floor, killing several people hiding in the building. The walls of the shop caved in and a tall fire grew out, consuming the building.<p>

Ramirez had been thrown to the ground by the second mortar and was now lying on his back facing up at the sky. He could hear muffled shouts; his hearing had gone after the explosion had gone off so close to him. People ran past him in panic, ignoring him completely. He kept watching the sky as he lay there with small bits of asphalt and dust covering his uniform. He could hear ghostly screams and a huge squadron of Banshees sped by overhead, the screams coming from their engines which were leaving a vaporous exhaust trail behind them. Ramirez turned his head and could see plasma bolts flying indiscriminately into the crowd of fleeing civilians, coming from several Banshees that had broken off from the squadron and were descending on the people, firing off long bursts from their energy guns. Ramirez watched as people fell the moment they were struck by the plasma and he pulled himself up from the ground. He saw his M4A1 assault rifle lying half buried under rubble nearby and he bent down to pick it up. He looked around wildly and saw the Stryker's back doors open. Nine Army Rangers ran out, ready for combat. As they left the Stryker, a single Banshee dive-bombed them, firing off its fuel rod cannon. The shot struck just feet away from the Stryker, knocking one of the Rangers to the ground as a small green explosion threw chunks of the road into the air. The Army Rangers everywhere were firing at the Banshees but to little effect, quickly the agile fighters zoomed out of sight.

Ramirez looked around. Fire was gushing from the apartment building and the clothing store, the two craters from the mortar impacts were smoking, one of them with a silver SUV lying upside down inside it, and smoke could be seen rising from fires in other places all over the city. Ramirez was horrified by what he had seen, but his distraction didn't last long.  
>"Everyone heads up! We've got enemy vehicles bearing down on us from the other end of the street!" shouted Sergeant Foley, and Ramirez swung his head round to see three glistening, purple Wraiths slowly emerged from the next street, moving in single file. Two groups of Covenant soldiers accompanied them. Brutes, Elites and Grunts walked towards the US soldiers. The Rangers took up positions behind abandoned cars and the rubble of the apartment building, all of them pointing their weapons directly at the Covenant, which were still unaware of the Human presence. Several of the Human heads looked to the sky as two Phantoms flew overhead, eerily silent as they gracefully swooped overhead like ghosts. Then, the entire street was shaken as the Stryker began to unload on the lead Wraith. The bullets had little effect on the strong armour of the alien tank as the Human soldiers opened fire on the Covenant soldiers. Immediately, a Brute Minor fell to the ground as bullets tore into its shoulder, but now plasma and spike rounds were flying in the direction of the US soldiers. And then, one of the Wraiths fired. The huge blue glowing plasma mortar travelled across the street, directly at the Stryker.<p>

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3: Carnage

Author's Note: Eipok: Yeah, I'd thrown around the idea of whether or not the Brutes and Grunts should be in it but I figured in the name of entertainment they would be. And the plan for this story from the start was going to be a Covenant victory, but like you said, I'm hoping to make this as compelling and powerful as I can.

Last Time: "The bullets had little effect on the strong armour of the alien tank as the Human soldiers opened fire on the Covenant soldiers. Immediately, a Brute Minor fell to the ground as bullets tore into its shoulder, but now plasma and spike rounds were flying in the direction of the US soldiers. And then, one of the Wraiths fired. The huge blue glowing plasma mortar travelled across the street, directly at the Stryker."

"Take cover!" screamed Sergeant Foley and the soldiers scattered as the shining blue plasma mortar from the Wraith streaked across the street, curving directly towards the Stryker. The soldiers ran for cover behind rubble and cars as the Stryker slowly began to back away, but it was too late. The mortar smashed into the front of the Stryker and melted right through the armour before exploding. Huge pieces of metal flew in all directions as the front of the Stryker was torn to shreds. As the Rangers looked up over their cover to see the damage they saw the raw power of the Wraith. The front half of the Stryker was pretty much molten after the impact, now much of the front was just a sticky glowing orange. A huge hole opened up the front of the Stryker and smoke gushed out from inside as the IFV stood motionless.  
>"What the hell are we fighting here?" asked Dunn, his hands shaking as they held his SCAR-H assault rifle.<br>"We took one of them down, so they can die. Just keep shooting!" shouted Foley. Ramirez felt his blood run cold as he heard a loud roar like a bear coming from one of the Brutes. They were close now, just ten metres away.  
>"Open fire!" yelled Foley and the Marines ducked out of cover and began to fire. Bullets flew all over the street as the Wraiths stopped in their tracks. The Elites and Brutes moved up, firing at the Humans. Ramirez could see the green and blue plasma shots fly past, burning holes in everything they touched. He looked up over the rubble of a building and could see the Brutes closing in. For just half a second he looked right into the eyes of a blue armour clad Brute Major. They were a deep scarlet and filled with rage. The Brute roared at the sight of him and held up its Spiker in one hand right up to face him. Ramirez quickly ducked back behind cover just as four red hot spikes shot from the Spiker flew just inches over his head. He jumped back up the moment they flew past and fired an entire magazine into the Brute. He took note of the armour that the Brute was wearing and how it deflected even direct impacts from bullets. Several of his shots hit it in the armour-plated chest and bounced off in a display of sparks. He altered his aiming and fired right into where its ribs supposedly were. The Brute wasn't even phased by the first few shots, but after half a magazine it fell to its knees before collapsing on the ground. Ramirez ducked back behind cover and reloaded, getting ready to repeat the same procedure. It seemed like it would all be so simple.<p>

"Medic!" came a scream, which the Rangers all heard over the sounds of gunfire and roars. Ramirez swung his head over and saw that on the other side of the street a young Private was lying on his back with two long spikes sticking from his stomach. A pool of blood had formed on the road around him. Sergeant Foley rushed to him and dragged him by the shoulders out of harm's way. A medic rushed to the screaming soldier but didn't know how to treat the wound.  
>"I can't treat this, I've never seen anything like it!" he shouted.<br>"I thought you were a fucking medic!" yelled Sergeant Foley as the sounds of the plasma shots became even closer.  
>"I am but the closest I've ever seen to this kind of injury is shrapnel in Afghanistan! I can't treat this here, you need to call for a casevac now!" yelled the medic. Foley looked around before yelling over at Corporal Dunn.<br>"Dunn, sitrep!" he yelled.  
>"We can't hold them off, they're advancing in bounds! We have to pull back sir!" shouted Dunn as he pumped bullets at the Covenant positions. Foley was considering whether or not retreat was the best option when suddenly there was an almighty explosion. One of the Wraiths had fired on them. Half the street was consumed in a blue explosion as several Rangers were thrown across the road. Ramirez was caught in it and thrown right through a hole in a building. Pieces of rubble fell onto him, coating him in dust. He lay there motionless, breathing heavily as he tried to get back up but had ran out of strength. The gunfire had stopped now. But he could hear something on his headset. Sergeant Foley's voice whispered into his ear through the headset.<br>"Everyone stay very still. Don't make a single sound" he said quietly. Ramirez lay back, visibly shaking in fear. He was suddenly enveloped in shadow as the lead Wraith slowly passed by, pushing the destroyed Stryker out of the way. Ramirez could see a charred, blackened body fall from the wrecked vehicle and lie on the ground. Then two Brutes passed by, both holding Covenant Carbines. Their shadows went right over Ramirez as he lay there staring up at them just inches away, praying that they wouldn't see him. They passed by slowly, their armour covered heads looking in all directions as they patrolled their new territory. Ramirez lay still as the Grunts followed, while the Elites moved at their own pace. At one point, a white armoured Elite Minor walked past just inches away from Ramirez, who closed his eyes and lay as still as possible. He could feel his heart thud like a drum as the Elite passed. After about two minutes, they were gone. Ramirez lifted his head and sat up slowly, brushing the rubble off him. He saw Sergeant Foley on the other side of the road sitting against a building covered in rubble which he had pulled over himself to hide. Foley held up his hand to signal Ramirez who did the same in response.

Ramirez stood up and headed outside. Six dead Rangers lay scattered over the street, blood dripping out and shrapnel sticking from their cold bodies. The Ranger who had been shot twice with the Spiker lay dead, his eyes rolled over and ghostly white. Ramirez stared into them before holding out his hand to Foley, who took it and Ramirez helped him stand up.  
>"Where's Dunn?" asked Foley.<br>"Here sir" came a voice and Dun emerged from inside a building.  
>"Anyone else?" asked Foley but Ramirez shook his head, looking at the floor.<br>"We're the only ones left sir" said Dunn. Foley rubbed his face with his hand to wipe off the dust.  
>"We'll have to keep moving. My headset is fried, I think the plasma shot from that tank disabled it" said Foley.<br>"Probably a short range EMP effect" said Dunn and Foley nodded.  
>"Come on, we've still got a job to do."<p> 


	4. Chapter 4: Red Sky

**Author's Note: Eipok, yeah that was a mix up on my part, I meant to say Elite Ultra rather than Minor.**

**Last Time:**

"**We'll have to keep moving. My headset is fried, I think the plasma shot from that tank disabled it" said Foley.  
>"Probably a short range EMP effect" said Dunn and Foley nodded.<br>"Come on, we've still got a job to do."**

It was eerily quiet. Not just on the street but through the whole city. Granted, the sounds of gunfire still rang out but they were distant and scattered. There were no aircraft in the sky except for Banshee squadrons that darted past in formations like bluebottles. Ramirez felt sick to his stomach, the silence worried him more than if the skies were filled with dogfights and the ground was covered in fire. For all he knew, the latter might be about to happen.

The three soldiers walked close together, eyes watching the skies and the rooftops for the slightest hint of movement. As they headed through the streets all Ramirez could focus on were the bodies. Hundreds of bodies lay scattered all over the streets, some covered in plasma burns, others with spikes sticking into their body and some covered in shrapnel that stuck out in all directions. It was carnage. Wrecked vehicles lay everywhere, piles of rubble stood where entire buildings had once been and what Ramirez couldn't help but notice was that there wasn't a single alien body to be found. Not one. As he looked around, Ramirez noticed a tall apartment building at the end of the road, with a few plasma burns but other than that no damage.  
>"Sarge, see that apartment over there? We could use that to scout out the area" said Ramirez and Foley looked at the building.<br>"Alright, let's go" said Foley.  
>The three soldiers walked slowly, treading over the bodies with their weapons pointing directly in front of them. They reached the apartment and put their backs against the walls before Foley turned and with one kick knocked the door right off its hinges. The three of them burst through into the building as dust was thrown up by the fallen door. They stepped cautiously into the building, with the only sound accompanying them being their footsteps against the carpet. They reached the lobby and found a woman lying dead on the floor, blood gushing from her forehead. Dunn crouched down and checked her pulse. He shook his head once he was done.<br>"She's gone" he said grimly before standing back up. The three of them were about to head for the stairs when they froze. A sound came up from a doorway near them that led to a room shrouded in darkness. The three of them looked around when it sounded again. It was a raspy, guttural call like a bird. A second identical sound came from the top of the stairs.  
>"There's something in here with us" said Dunn but Foley shushed him.<br>"Head for the stairs and be quiet" Foley whispered. The three of them slowly edged towards the steps but the moment Ramirez looked up them, his blood ran cold. There, standing on the top step to face him, stood a Skirmisher. Ramirez had barely a second to yell out before the Skirmisher leapt from the step and pounced at him. It knocked Ramirez to the floor and screeched right in his face showing a beak full of sharp teeth. There was gunfire as several more Skirmishers appeared from almost every other doorway. Ramirez threw out a punch as the Skirmisher lifted a Plasma Pistol at his face. The Skirmisher was hit in the side of the head and fell to the ground but still struggled to try and get up. Ramirez fired a burst from his M4A1 into the Skirmisher's head, killing it. He swung round and saw that Dunn and Foley were facing four Skirmishers that stood in front of the exit, slowly prowling towards them, hissing. Two more dead Skirmishers lay at their feet. The Skirmishers kept their distance but one shot from their weapons and the Humans would be dead. Three of the Skirmishers were just Minors but the lead one was a Skirmisher Champion, wearing orange armour and with energy shields on its forearms. It was a standoff.

The three Rangers pointed their rifles directly at the Skirmishers, which seemed hesitant to attack. They growled angrily as they slowly began to circle the three Humans and the Humans did the same. The two squads locked eyes in a tense standoff before finally the lead Skirmisher let out an ear piercing screech and sprinted towards Sergeant Foley. Gunfire rang out and the Skirmisher collapsed before it reached him, bullet holes in its head, but the other three also ran at the soldiers. More shots rang out and one Skirmisher was killed but another jumped right onto Dunn and knocked him to the ground. It pointed its Plasma Pistol right at the side of his head and Dunn closed his eyes, waiting for the shot. But at the last moment, Foley suddenly kicked the Skirmisher in the ribs with all his strength, knocking it off Dunn and breaking several ribs. The Skirmisher dropped its weapon and thrashed about on the floor in agony. Ramirez swung his head around and saw the last Skirmisher turning away to retreat but he fired off several rounds from his rifle and hit the Skirmisher in the back, killing it.

The three soldiers stood up, coming to terms with the encounter before Foley headed for the stairs. Dunn and Ramirez looked at each other before following close behind. Foley had started to run up the stairs and he called down to the other two as he did so.  
>"Move it you two, something's going on out there!" he shouted. Once they finally reached the top of the stairs, Foley kicked down a door and they found themselves on the roof of the building overlooking much of the city. It was utter devastation, like Los Angeles had been smothered in a blanket made of fire. The Corvettes could still be seen hovering over the city but were no longer firing any weapons, instead they just hovered motionless. The sky was stained deep red from all the dust. The smoke that rose from the city made it difficult to see very far, and there was one massive tower of black smoke the size of a mountain rising up from behind the skyline. Squadrons of Banshees flew past regularly on patrol, and there was no sign of any Human forces left in the city. Gunfire couldn't even be heard.<br>"No frigging way we got beaten that quickly" muttered Dunn. Ramirez stared at the destruction that had befallen LA, but he turned his head to see Foley throwing a smoke grenade to the floor. A cloud of green smoke began to grow up out of it and Foley sat on a short wall at the edge of the roof before speaking into his headset, which had finally come back to life.  
>"Overlord, this is Hunter Two-One Actual. Are there any friendly forces left in Los Angeles, over?"<br>There was no response. Foley repeated his question but again no response.  
>"Shit" said Foley as Dunn kicked the wall in frustration.<br>"Could they have taken out Command already?" asked Ramirez.  
>"No way, they're based in Colorado right now. That's not possible right?" asked Dunn.<p>

Before anyone could answer him, the sound of jet engines filled the air. The three soldiers looked to the sky and saw a squadron of four F-22 Raptor fighter jets shoot past in a triangle formation. They passed through the orange and black smoke that poured from the city and streaked directly towards the Covenant Corvette that hovered over what used to be the skyline, but was now a group of smouldering objects that no longer retained any of their original form. The lead Raptor signed in.  
>"Overlord, this is Jester One-One, flight of four F-22s. Standby for SEAD, over."<br>"Solid copy Jester. Go get em" replied Overlord through his headset.  
>The Raptors approached the Corvette, and the bay doors at the bottom of the jets opened up to reveal missiles. The lead Raptor gained a lock and fired.<br>"Good tone, good tone. Fox 3, Fox 3" said the pilot before pressing on the fire button. Two missiles dropped out from the jet before streaking towards the Corvette.  
>The Corvette had taken down its shields due to the absence of any hostiles and the Raptors had taken it by surprise. The two missiles struck the bulbous 'head' of the Corvette and exploded. Chunks of purple shrapnel flew everywhere as two large fireballs grew from the impact zones.<br>"Good effect on target" reported the pilot and the other three Raptors fired off missiles as well. The missiles pounded the Corvette, creating multiple impact points as fire spurted out from all over the left side of the ship. But the armour of the Corvette still protected it, the explosions weren't nearly as big as they could have been. The Raptors were soon getting too close to the Corvette and broke off. Big mistake. Before the pilots knew it, a massive group of almost fifty Seraphs came speeding towards them from all directions. One Raptor was caught completely off guard as a Seraph dived in on him from directly above and fired multiple purple shots from its plasma cannon. The plasma shots tore into the poorly armoured Raptor's wing and tore it clean off. The Raptor went into a spin, completely out of control as the pilot tried to wrestle it back under control. A massive streak of smoke poured from where the wing would have been as the Raptor spun violently, diving to the ground. At the last moment, the Raptor pilot finally ejected, just seconds before the jet smashed into the ground.  
>"Jester One-Three is down! I say again, Jester One-Three is on the ground!" shouted the lead Raptor pilot but there was no answer from Overlord. The pilot looked to his left and saw no less than seven Seraphs chasing another Raptor, firing hundreds of bolts of plasma at it and easily matching its top speed. The Raptor being pursued tried to break off but gave the Seraphs a better shot. The Raptor took a single hit and exploded in a ball of orange fire.<br>"This is Jester One-One, fall back! Fall back!" yelled the lead Raptor pilot to his only remaining comrade. But the other Raptor pilot was in the middle of it, trying to dodge the onslaught that the Seraphs were giving him. It was like being caught in a storm. He managed to get behind one of the Seraphs, got a lock and fired a missile. The missile streaked towards the Seraph, which launched no countermeasures of any kind. It didn't even flinch. The missile hit but the Seraph' shields lit up and the missile exploded harmlessly, not even slightly damaging the shields. The Raptor pilot didn't have any time to come to terms with this, as a second Seraph came up from below him and crashed right into his Raptor. The shields of the Seraph protected it but the Covenant fighter ripped right through the American jet, tearing it clean in half.

The final Raptor was now making a desperate attempt to escape, speeding out of Los Angeles but it was no use. Almost a hundred Seraphs were speeding towards him. _One hundred immortal fighters _the pilot thought to himself, before diving to the deck. He flew close to the ground, below the huge clouds of smoke and prayed that the aliens wouldn't find him. Luckily the Seraphs didn't find him, they scattered as they hunted him down but the smoke protected the Raptor. As it flew over the city, the pilot looked down to street level and was shocked by what he saw. Covenant vehicles were filling up the Downtown streets and there was indeed still fighting going on in the city contrary to the belief of Command. He could clearly see fresh explosions and tracer rounds, as well as barrages of plasma and hundreds of Heavy Plasma Mortars from Wraiths soaring over the buildings before coming to a crash on the American positions. The pilot grimaced, and left the area.

Foley, Dunn and Ramirez had been watching the entire battle between the Raptors and Seraphs, and now they were in a state of shock. Dunn crouched down against the wall, face in his hands. Foley had gone pale and Ramirez could do nothing but stare at the carnage all across the city.  
>"There's our bird" said Foley and Ramirez could see a UH-60 Blackhawk approaching the green smoke that Foley had thrown. As it touched down on the roof next to them, the three Rangers climbed onboard. Foley shouted over the din of the rotors to the operator of the minigun.<br>"You took your time getting here!" he shouted.  
>"Sorry sir but we're running out of time! Evacuation Order April, the city's being evacuated!"<br>"We're abandoning Los Angeles?" yelled Foley.  
>"Not just Los Angeles!" the gunner shouted back as the Blackhawk took off and headed out away from Santa Monica towards the countryside nearby. Ramirez sat down and breathed a sigh of relief that he was out of it for now. But his relief was short lived. He could hear Overlord's voice in his headset giving a final message to the soldiers of the West Coast.<p>

"This is Overlord to all callsigns. The following cities have been declared lost to the enemy: Seattle, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose. If you are still inside any of these cities you must find a way out now. Our strategic forces are preparing for a tactical nuclear strike on the following city: San Diego. This strike has been judged to be a necessary act to slow down the invaders and destroy the enemy ships over the city. Anyone still inside the city, you have one hour before the strike hits and it will hit. I will broadcast again if the strike is a success or not. If it is, the following cities will be next on the list in this exact order: Seattle, Los Angeles, San Jose and San Francisco. Leave these cities now; you are to disregard all previous orders. You have one order now. Leave the cities and survive for as long as you can. Good luck. Overlord, out.


End file.
